Beijing 2022 Day 1 Review
We are here for the first proper day of competition for Beijing 2022 and we have the whole gang together to recap one epic day! We talk about a medal winning day for Canada and find out from Colin just how he feels about their first day of success. We also get back on the commentary slopes to call some more moguls and leave some more memories that you won't soon forget. Added to this we find out just why we still love the curling, why the women's ice hockey should just be called right now, why Hakuna Matata is such a wonderful phrase and celebrate another iconic Aussie Winter Olympian and award another edition of the DAILY DALE. It's one stacked show that you won't want to miss!
EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Please note this is an automated transcript that may contain errors.
BEN WATERWORTH: It is Off The Podium, An Olympics Podcast coming to you for an episode on the Olympics. That's why we're An Olympics Podcast. It's day one of Beijing 2022. The first full day of competition is here. We're excited, we are pumped, and we have a lot to talk about, a lot to get to. There's stuff happening right now when we've pressed record. There's stuff happening left, right and centre. We're going to be commentating, we're going to be talking, we're going to be celebrating, we're going to be recapping things from last night, looking ahead tomorrow and maybe even breathe at some point. I don't even know. I'll start by introducing one half of this episode that doesn't have COVID-19. It's Jarrod Lubig. Jarrod, welcome back. We are the cool ones apparently, because we don't have that trendy disease that's going around the world right now.
JARROD LOOBEEK: That's true. I'm feeling a little bit left out.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it is a bit that way, isn't it? Like now everyone's getting it. It's a cool thing. You know, ask the losers who don't have it. But speaking of people who have it, he loves moguls so much that he has to be here, even though he literally, I shouldn't laugh. He has COVID. And I think as I just said to him, the first person I think I've ever talked to who has COVID. So Colin Hilding, welcome back. Are you dead yet?
COLIN HILDING: No, and you know what? I have broken at least one curse of Off The Podium. Finally, somebody has COVID on this show, yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: This is like a time capsule, I feel right now. This is gonna be something you're gonna listen back to. Like, hey, remember COVID when I had it? Well, I've got recorded evidence of it. I mean, briefly give us a summary. Is COVID cool to have or does it suck?
COLIN HILDING: It sucks. I wouldn't say that it's the worst thing in the world unless you have three children who also have it. Not that they care, their symptoms are very mild, but I would rather just sleep than have to deal with them jumping around all over the place and being stuck in this house for 10 days.
BEN WATERWORTH: The other person you should mention, Jamie, is she okay, Colin? I'm like, you know, just she's got it too, I believe.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, she's wonderful. She's loving it. I mean, she does think it's the cool thing to have.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's, I mean, in a weird way, kind of I feel that like in 10 years time, if we are listening back to this and Jarrod and I are like, hey, we never got it, I will feel like we did this out. So, you know, maybe we can just kiss by the end of this episode, Colin. We can share fluids somehow. So-
COLIN HILDING: I mean, I sent Jarrod a nice care package after the Summer Olympics. I could send you a nice care package of half-drank water bottles and some used Kleenex. So maybe in a couple of months, you can get there.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think you did send me a care package. I still haven't arrived yet. So I'm still waiting for my Gordon Bombay Funko Pop.
COLIN HILDING: That was pre-COVID, so you're safe to open that one.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right, there we go. But I mean, a big day, a big, big day of day one of competition. I mean, as we are recording this right now, the Men's Moguls Finals are starting, where we're watching people mogul, mogul, mogul right down the hill. And we will be keeping up an Off The Podium tradition and doing some live commentary. None of this pre-recorded bullshit we did during Tokyo, actual live commentary, and none of this adding sound effects things, I can't be bothered doing that. I'm up later than I'm usually am for these. So we'll be getting to that very, very shortly. But before we, I guess, talk about that, and Colin's event, and his man, Michael, and all that kind of stuff, I guess the one thing we should leave with is, one of our countries has a medal today. Of course, it's not Australia. We sadly did not win the skiathlon, which I was very disappointed in Jess. She should have won it, let's be honest. Colin, you're on the board. Canada, bronze in the women's 3000 metres. Isabel, is it vitamin? Weedman. With that one too. Yep, cool. How are you feeling? You're on the board. Congratulations Canada.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I've barely been able to pay attention to what's going on in speed skating, because it's been pretty busy, let's say 12, 24 hours with other stuff dominating all our TV coverage. I didn't even realise that this happened until after the last qualification round for moguls was over. And I turned to CBC and they were interviewing Canada's first medallist. I know that I had seen her name thrown around there yesterday as like a potential. I believe that she was one of our bigger speed skating stars. I haven't followed speed skating that closely, but it's exciting because we're on the board on day one. It's a bronze and I was going to say we're going to be on the board again, but I don't know if we're going to be on the board again. I'm making no predictions. You will be on the board again.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, come on. This is like when we used to watch the Usain Bolt, like, oh, do you think the same bolt? Yes, yes, he will. Like, come on, Colin. I know you don't want to say it. I know you're being Mr. Like, no, I know this is your event, but I think even Jarrod knows enough about moguls to know that Canada is going to be winning a golden in about an hour or so, right, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, 100%.
BEN WATERWORTH: This is a lock. This is a Felix lock, basically. But yeah, Isabel, the name that Colin said, third, great for her. Behind the legendary Irene Schuytten of the Netherlands, of course, the Dutch won it, and Francesca Lollobrigia of Italy. I did actually watch it. You think I would have listened to how the commentators pronounce the names. But one thing I'll say, and I'll say this about all the medal events that we've had so far, everybody loved winning a medal. And I love it. Like, you know, I love it. When even when the bronze medallist is celebrating, like they won a gold, like, Isabelle was crying. So good for her. Absolute great to see that. And I guess while we're just on the page of Canada in general, we can't really talk about the main one, obviously that we want to talk about in an hour or so. Couple other big results. Colin, what the hell of your female hockey players been doing since the last Olympics? I mean, beat them in a gold medal match. They come out and they spank everyone. 12-1 against Switzerland, 11-1 against Finland, the team that beat them in the World Champs a couple of years ago. And people were predicting could almost pull an upset here. Like, Jesus Christ, Canada, you guys just, you want this gold again.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, you know, I definitely wasn't expecting that margin against Finland. I was watching a bit of the first period and I'm like, oh, you know, it looks like we're probably gonna win this one. I don't think I need to watch the rest. I don't know whether I would have rather watched the rest of it and seen such a massive load of whether we just got boring because like, when you have, you know, double digit scoring and you're almost surpassing the other team, you know, by double digits, is there a point to watching? I think this is one of the struggles with women's hockey is that you don't have as many competitive teams, but I think the thing is with this is this was one of the competitive teams. So definitely didn't see it coming. I'm hopeful that this means we're going to do well for the rest of the Olympics, but you never know. I mean, obviously, there have been upsets even in very recent Olympic history with Canadian hockey.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's fascinating. I watched a bit of the game against Switzerland the other day, but yeah, I think I was paying attention to the score enough and it seemed pretty close for a while, but it must have been in the third period. I think Canada just really blew it out of the water. So if they all of a sudden come out and beat the US like 10-1, then we may as well just call it off. It's just done. Like thanks, women's ice hockey, you know, gold medal to Canada. Wasn't a good day for your curlers though. They got beaten by the beautiful Swedish pair. I think winning the Daily Dale must have helped them out a little bit to spank Canada 6-2. So when we talk about Tarly and Dean shortly getting spanked, I don't think we can pass judgement when Mr. Morris and crew were getting spanked out there by the beautiful Swedes. Colin, what's going on there?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, what's going on there is have you looked at that man? I mean, John Morris himself.
BEN WATERWORTH: I can't stop looking at him. He's so hot.
COLIN HILDING: Like it's impossible for Morris to keep his eye on the lines or Rachel. I mean, when they've got somebody like that on the ice with them, how are you going to focus on your rocks? How are you going to focus on your brooms? It's impossible.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm focusing on his rocks, seriously. I mean, Jarrod, like, did you sleep last night? I mean, I couldn't just stop thinking about him.
JARROD LOOBEEK: He's a good looking man. I mean, it sticks in your mind.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think what's funny is today, when the first Tali and Dean game was on, was I had that game on at the same time on a different screen. I was paying more attention to the Sweden Switzerland game. Cause I'm just like, I just can't stop looking at him. I just, I really can't. So, but I mean, how, like, is there been much commentary around Morris and Rachel just in terms how they're doing now? They've lost two. They've got the easy beats tomorrow in Australia. So they'll do all right there. But I mean, is there a bit of panic settling in here or are they still confident they can pull a medal home?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, not panic. I don't think that we necessarily had as high expectations as we did in Pyeongchang with Morris and Laws. But I feel like losing our first match has definitely helped people be a little bit realistic about this and say, hey, maybe it's not going to be a clean sweep all the way to the gold. But Morris himself, I think, is one of the things that's funny, because I kind of mentioned to you yesterday that Morris is taking some heat here, particularly because in that first match, there are, I guess, a couple of points where Rachel was sort of giving us some instructions and he wasn't necessarily following it, and it sort of became this big thing with a lot of people being critical of him, of not listening to her, and he kind of even went out publicly and said, yeah, I think we need to communicate better, I think I need to listen better. He's been very honest about that and very fair since then, but you're still seeing a lot of people criticising him. I'm seeing people accusing him of mansplaining, which makes no sense at all, because essentially she has been making calls and he has been doing the opposite. I'm like mansplaining is something different, but of course you're going to get a lot of people are being very critical, but he's such a nice guy that it's hard to really hold anything against him, and they definitely have a lot of experience. I'm not crossing my fingers that we're going to take a gold, but I'm hopeful that maybe we could sneak in and possibly get a bronze, maybe even a silver.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I don't think we'll have the result by the time we finish off there, but you've got the US tonight who are one, well, you're tied on wins and losses. You're in fifth at the moment, they're in fourth. So a big game against your traditional rivals. So that will be a turning point, but you've got us tomorrow, so it's all right. You'll win that one. But actually, it wouldn't be great if that's the one game we win, and we knock you out of the medals.
COLIN HILDING: I wanted to mention, and Jarrod has a bit of a preview of this because the first day I had COVID, I messaged the wrong group chat, my opinion on Ben. But correct me if I'm wrong. Did you not say in our preview episode, or it was possibly unfair, but you 100% said it. You said Dean and Tali, oh, they got USA and China. Yeah, we're definitely winning those two.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah, no, I said that.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, so this is why we keep our mouths shut and we don't make predictions.
BEN WATERWORTH: They were on the show, Colin. They were on Off The Podium. So, I mean, we kind of didn't exactly know that they weren't going to do this. So just saying.
COLIN HILDING: It's your fault. We could be seeing them right now instead of Italy.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. I get it. A bit distracted here because Brody Summers has gone seventh. Wow, OK, he looked better than Cooper's run. I know nothing about moguls, clearly. But anyway, it's just whatever. Italy is still undefeated. So, I mean, lock them in for a medal round. Tallien Curlers, who knew that? So, anyway. Also, I should add a few other Canadian results that involve some guests that have been on the show. As we speak right now, the women's ski jumping is on, and I actually, just before we came on air, watched Ali and Abby go in there. So I'll give you an update on where they're standing and if they're going to make it through the final round as well. I know Scott Gow in the biathlon relay, part of the mixed team relay, Canada were 14th in that. So, not last. There you go. It's somewhat off the podium, non-curse related there. So, go team. Did you care about the biathlon, Colin? Did listening to Scott Gow make you want to pay more attention to the biathlon at all? No?
COLIN HILDING: In the last 24 hours.
BEN WATERWORTH: Welcome back. There you go. Sorry. So, you want to talk about biathlon. You snob.
COLIN HILDING: I was going to say, I'm disappointed that I missed it, actually. I didn't even realise it happened so quickly. There's too much to catch up on, and I'm too sick to really notice everything happening.
BEN WATERWORTH: It was actually very quick. Like, it wasn't long after the cross-country, our first medal that happened, and I caught the end of it, and it was a very tight Finnish-Norway, took the gold in that one. So, I mean, surprise, surprise. Norway got the biathlon and the cross-country gold today. So, I'll just quickly touch on that, because we've had three medals decided at the start of this. So, yeah, in the biathlon, it was Norway, defeating France, and ROC, doing very well again in their debut Olympics, Winter Olympics, good for you, ROC. And in the cross-country, the skiathlon, it was Therese Joharg from Norway, defeating Natalia Nepareva of ROC, and Theresa Staudt-Lobar of Austria, Austria. So, good job there for that. And yes, we'll update you on how Ali and Abby and some of the other Canadian results along the way. Jarrod, Australia. Right now, obviously, we're watching the moguls. We've got two through here to the finals. A big talking point, I think, though, for us, is that our silver medallist from Pyeongchang, Mr. Matty Graham, obviously, not making it through, coming in with a broken collarbone, so he did well enough to just even line up on the start there. But disappointment for him, and I don't know if you saw the interview with him. Pretty heartbreaking to see him getting interviewed there by Richo. He full on broke down at the end there. So he's obviously not too happy with how things went for him today.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it was a tough one. It just didn't go right straight from the start. And I think, too, it just seemed like difficult conditions during that second qualifying, with the wind picking up and the snow just being everywhere. But yeah, it was a really tough interview to watch. I do hope that he's able to kind of pick himself back up and hopefully the team rallies around him. It seems like there's a good support group there, but yeah, not the result he was looking for, obviously.
BEN WATERWORTH: He does seem a very popular person. Just quickly, Colin, I know you obviously follow the mobile scene pretty closely. I mean, is Matt Graham considered high amongst the community, since you're embedded in the moguls community? I mean, were you disappointed to see poor old Matt not make it through?
COLIN HILDING: He's the reigning silver medallist. I think the injury is, if anything, it makes it more impressive that he was even here. And even watching the two runs that we saw him in, particularly the last one, I mean, he was going so fast, and I thought that he was going to wipe out so many times because of the wind conditions and the speed he was going. I actually finished that thinking like, wow, that's almost as good as a medal that you're actually standing still at the end of this. So I could see his disappointment. We obviously didn't get any interviews with him, but I could see his disappointment even as the scores were revealed, although I think he kind of knew that. But I mean, credit to him that he's even able to compete in these Olympics, you know, considering how recently he was cleared to compete again.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it was crazy just to think how quickly he was. So I think, you know, I think most of Australia is, we're happy that he got there in the end, you know, and I think kind of once he had that injury, I don't think he really was touted as a medal chance. So I think it was good there. But the live update right now is that Koopa Woods will go through to the final two. He's currently sitting in second place at the moment and watching the live scoring here. Him, Nikita Andrev and Nekumu Hiroshima of Japan are all set. And we're, what, the Finns score coming up right now. We don't want him to be above seventh because Brody Summers is in seventh right now. I hope we're all getting this at the same time, or are we going to get it? He's 12th, cool, all right, suck it, Finland.
COLIN HILDING: I think you're definitely a little bit ahead of me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, sorry, spoiler, Finland are in 12th. Oh, Mikael Kingsby's dead. He's just broken his neck.
COLIN HILDING: This is why I didn't want to say anything.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's done there. But another big one, Jarrod and Australia's perspective, of course, and we'll talk about the curling because we want to talk about it. But Tess Cody, Genuine Metal Chance, has gone through to the Slope Style finals. She qualified in eighths. What did you think of Tess? She's a little bit of a character, a little Tess.
JARROD LOOBEEK: She's an interesting one. Every time an interview comes on, which is like every, I don't know, five minutes that it's replayed, it always makes me laugh. I did love the whole, like, she mentioned being a park rat, and then they had to define that. But then she said she's not, she's not a grommie, but then there was no definition for that. And I'm like, well, I don't know what that means. But I was like, okay, she's, so it's good to be a park rat, not good to be a grommie. I thought the run itself was okay. Obviously a lot more to do in the final moving forward. It was really difficult actually to sit through and watch because she was just hovering in like the second half of that with so many people still to come. And then we just got lucky that not many people towards the end were throwing down a great score. So I'm glad she's through and hope she can pull off some bigger tricks in the final.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, the other big one, she mentioned from Canada's perspective, Laurie Bluin is through. She qualified just once by the head of TESS, two-time defending champion, as we've heard plenty of times today, the GOAT of slope style. And this is snowboard, I should say, not free ski. Jamie Anderson, she is through, but let's just point out a little fact here that we talked about in our preview episode about the potential of New Zealand getting their very first ever Olympic gold medal in the Winter Olympics. Zoe Sadowski-Sinott qualified in first, pretty significantly as well. Five points clear of Kokomo, Bruce McEvaney's favourite athlete, Maraisie from Japan. Just want to point a little fact out that tomorrow is actually New Zealand's National Day of Waitangi Day. So if there's going to be a day for New Zealand to win their very first ever Winter Olympic gold medal, it's tomorrow. So not that I want to cheer on a New Zealander to win a gold medal at the Winter Olympics, but part of me kind of does. Jarrod, are we allowed to say that for once and be like, come on, Zoe, get the gold for New Zealand on my tangy day and get Tess get the silver?
JARROD LOOBEEK: See, I would say yes, but it's the spelling of Zoe that holds me back. I just can't rally behind it. It just, it irks me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, she was born in Australia, of course, remember. So, you know, she's ours, basically. But Colin, do you give a shit about a New Zealander winning a gold medal? I think I asked you this in the previous episode, but I'm gonna ask you again while we're on the topic. Oh, yeah, okay.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, yeah. I'm even more excited after watching it last night. I have to say that even after the first run, or the commentators here, Craig McMorris, I don't know if you're familiar with Mark McMorris, he's one of our big snowboarders. Yeah, his brother is one of the commentators here, former snowboarder too. I mean, he was actually shocked that Jamie had beaten her even enough to the first run. So I mean, Canada is 100% behind Zoe right now. Zoe. And now that you told me this New Zealand national day or whatever tomorrow, I mean, I'm really pulling them. I will be crushed for Nick if she doesn't win.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was talking to a bit to Nick during the week, and he said actually he's getting a bit of coverage there. And I think I caught him probably when he went to bed, because I messaged him saying like, oh, I like New Zealand pulling for her tomorrow on my tangy day. But yeah, he hasn't quite messaged me back yet. Nick's got to sleep, right? Kiwi's got to sleep. So we'll no doubt, I'll let you know what he eventually will say with that. Is this Mr. Kingsbury on our screen? No, it's not, he's Japanese. Not even close, man. I'm not even paying attention enough to the mogul. I see some red on his uniform, and I'm like, is that for Kale Kingsbury? He's like, representing Japan, I'm like, oh, yep, not close. Yeah, okay, I'll shut up. I probably just offended Colin. Curling, again, it's all that's on everybody's lips here in Australia, but probably not for very much longer, because we've only got one more day to go for Australia, sadly. Yes, Colin, yes, hello?
COLIN HILDING: I really want to ask you this before I forget. Because you guys mentioned yesterday about how everybody's going crazy for curling there. Is this something where there's a lot of attention on the sport and people are loving the sport? Or is everybody just so excited that you have curlers? It's like the Jamaican bobsled team. You're like, hey, we're just into this one way or the other.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's everything that you just said. We've literally had news articles that have said, this is Australia's Jamaican bobsled team. Because the big thing that they keep talking about here is the fact that we are the only country in the field that doesn't have a dedicated curling ring. So they've obviously based themselves in Canada for a lot of the time to train. And we've got like 200 curlers in the entire country and all the kind of stuff you usually get with this. So there's that. I think the fact that, and I think Jarrah was talking about this yesterday, that this is obviously on before anything else starts. And this is really the only thing we're watching. But everyone is hooked to it. Like I was saying in the episode yesterday about like, at work, like literally we're all just glued and we've become armchair experts now going, this is what they should do. This is how they should do this. This is all that sort of stuff. And everybody is just absolutely hooked to it. So there's a lot of talk around again, getting a dedicated curling rink here now that the success this is gonna bring to the sport in Australia. And even though they're getting, well today they got spanked, but they've been pretty close in pretty much every other game except against the Czechs. So it's done a lot. It has really done a lot and exposed the sport so much in this country. So it is actually crazy to just see the attention that curling is getting here, Colin. And so we've obviously got two of our commentators doing it, one of them being Dean's dad. And Andy Ma, who does the other commentary, obviously has done a lot of research to commentate on it. But when you actually, sometimes they will broadcast it with the OBS, the Olympic Broadcasting Service commentary. And it's done by a Canadian, clearly. And it's so interesting to kind of hear them talk about them sort of from an outsider's perspective as well. So I don't know if they've made any sort of headway in the news over there, Colin, about us making the debut and do we get a bit of the cool running story from giving them such a huge support for you guys over there?
COLIN HILDING: No, really there's been no coverage which I'm surprised about, especially since there is the Canadian connection with them. But I'm anticipating that when Sunday comes around, I believe it's Sunday that we play each other, right?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep, yep. Last day of the round robin, well, second last day, I should say. Yeah, now tomorrow's our last day, Australia. We've got two more games to go.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I'm hopeful that when you actually get onto the Canadian coverage, that there'll be some mentions of it because it is a bigger story than I think, especially since we're hearing about Nigeria and Jamaica right now in Canada. It's kind of shocking that we're not, because Australia does get a lot of mentions in all other sports. It seems like this is the one that hasn't gotten any coverage yet. Or maybe they're just waiting for Sunday. They're just holding off all their coverage until then.
BEN WATERWORTH: Of course, tomorrow, yeah, we play the reigning gold medallist and the reigning silver medallist in you guys, and then Switzerland, but Switzerland actually haven't really been doing too well. So yeah, but today, sadly for Australia, yeah, Norway 10-4 got spanked in that one. They gave up in the end. They literally were like, nah, we're good. They left. And then Italy, the one that I kept saying, I clearly have a good track record at predicting curling because I was saying to everyone today, you watch, we'll be in Italy, we'll be the first speed Italy. We got done 7-3. So go us against the Italian rugby player. And it's just a sport in itself, commentating on the appearances of all the different curlers. So Joe, what was your, did you watch both of these ones today? And I mean, it wasn't just me. You said last night too, that today is the day. And sadly Australia, no, not the day.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, and it hurts, to be honest. Now I'm just like, come on, just like one win. Surely, I feel like if you're, well, if you're Switzerland or Canada and it gets to the point where you can't qualify anyway, surely you're just throwing the Aussies a bone at this point, just give them a win. Yeah, the Norway game was just terrible. And then the Italian game, it made me laugh because it was like the final end. And there was like, I don't know, three stones left or whatever, but we took our shot and obviously couldn't get enough points. And then they just finished it. I was like, there was two throws left. You could have just finished the match, you know? But yeah, I just, they're always so close. And it just, they're in it. And then they just have a really bad end. And then they're back out of it. So I'm hopeful that they can just pull something off tomorrow.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just, yeah, I'm with like one, cause like you're gonna look back in the history books in 10, 20 years time and see if they went, you know, zero and nine, you're just gonna straight away like, well, that sucked. But like again, what, four of these, you know, we could have easily won. And it's just, it's, yeah, it's always gonna sort of be reflected on that way. I said, yeah, two more tomorrow, Switzerland, and then of course Canada in our last game. But I'm just saying it now, if Canada's already qualified, then like John as our coach, former coach, I don't know if he's still technically our coach, but let's just, just like, Colin, can you just let him win? Can you say like, guys, I've coached you, or maybe we should be blaming him. Maybe like, well, John, you're a shit coach.
COLIN HILDING: Like, I mean, he doesn't listen. That's his problem. He mansplains too much. But, you know, I'm actually really pulling for you guys too, though, because it's not even just, you know, because there's a Canadian connection or whatever. But I mean, we've heard several other people on the show, Devin Haru, who is Canada's curling expert. When you had the interview with him, I mean, he was really talking him up and not just, you know, to suck up or whatever. He was like, oh, like you guys have a real shot at a medal. So I think it is kind of surprising. But, you know, I don't know. You guys have talked so much, maybe more so in the Summer Olympics about those expectations on Australian TV that, oh, you know, we came in, you know, 28th in the world and we somehow didn't win a medal. This is disappointing. But considering this was a real medal, hopeful, I mean, are are are your your commentators on Channel 7. Jarrod, I'll let you answer this question. Are they being kind? Are they being considerate or is there a lot of judgement?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I feel like there's no judgement at all. This is kind of almost the best lead up, I think, and a pair of athletes have ever got for an Olympics, because the story is just they're there. It's this fairy tale thing. Yeah, I don't think any real pressure has been put on the fact that that they were, I suppose, in in with a chance of potentially grabbing and grabbing a medal out of it. So if anything, even like they haven't been, I feel like they haven't been interviewed a lot. They have like their their matches are always shown, but they're not getting these interviews of either of them replayed over and over like some of the other athletes. So no excuses from from build up for them.
BEN WATERWORTH: What one thing that I don't know if you were watching the day the first game that I just to start a little brag here for myself is that I did manage to get Joanna Griggs to plug the Glenorchee ice rink in Hobart being for sale. So did you did you catch that, Jarrod, were you watching at that point?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I did. I did. I loved the plug.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, no, that was that was me. I told her that and she used that information. So you're welcome. Glenorchee ice rink. You got you got a free plug on national television. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see kind of the how that will go moving forward in terms of uptake of curling in Australia. And obviously, we hope to see Dean and Tali come back for Milan. And we'll get Dean and Tali on the show, no doubt, hopefully at some point in the future. I'm sure they're going to be in demand for a little bit now that everybody is aware of it. We set the bar high. It's all good. We're trendsetters here on Off The Podium. You're welcome. So yeah, we're interested to see that. Now, just before I get to a couple of the results, just some breaking news in the moguls. Just as we're literally about to go to the GOAT, Mr. Kingsbury. One of my favourites, Walter Wahlberg, Wally Wahlberg, just got through. But good news for Australia, both Brody Summers and Cooper Woods will be in the final two. But Colin, I don't know how you are. Are you seeing your man at the top of the hill right now or are we ahead of you?
COLIN HILDING: You're a little bit ahead of me. I'm seeing Walter Wahlberg right now making a heart with his hands.
BEN WATERWORTH: OK, do you want us to shut up here and not tell you what's going to happen here? So, oh my God, he's dead. He's got his head fell off. He started on our screen.
COLIN HILDING: I see him at the top of the hill right now.
BEN WATERWORTH: OK, all right. Jarrod, how are you feeling?
COLIN HILDING: We got to work out what our difference is here for when we do the commentary.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, we have many different.
JARROD LOOBEEK: My delay is closer to Colin's. He hasn't really started yet.
BEN WATERWORTH: Maybe it's because I'm next door to the studio. Maybe I'll get preferences here as a Channel 7 employee.
COLIN HILDING: Ben's got that exclusive access.
BEN WATERWORTH: There you go. Can I just say this? Like, maybe it's a Canadian style, but he reminds me a bit of Dale, like he just kind of got a cool, calm demeanour about him that when he crosses the line, a bit of a fist pump, like there's no emotion there. There's just the coolness of it. Is this a Canadian mogul way, Colin?
COLIN HILDING: I think it's just the Kingsbury way. I mean, you know, maybe we could say the Kingsbury slash Dale way. It's interesting because I actually read an article that we just mentioned, Devin Haru wrote, on Kingsbury. And he's always so controlled and takes things so seriously. And there's just those little things that... Incredible run. I just saw him finish here. But there's things he does, like he says, he never listens to music that he was asked, you know, okay, what do you listen to when you're going to the course? He goes, I listen to my skis on the snow. I don't want to hear anything else. Like when he's driving, it doesn't matter what he's doing. Every minute of every day, he's relating it to skiing. When he's driving, he's basically just tapping his hands as if he's going down. He times throughout the day, this is this mogul, this one, this one, this is the jump and 25 seconds and I'm done. Mogul, mogul, mogul. Yeah, he literally does that. Like he lives and breathes this 24-7. So I don't even know of any other Canadians that are as intense as he is.
BEN WATERWORTH: I really look forward to Jarrod pinpointing his favourite mogul tonight. Jarrod, I hope you're on to that. But is he through? He just qualified him first. So I mean, come on. So yeah, we'll do the super final. So far, so good. Two Aussies through, one Canadian. So we'll get to that. Just on a couple of other quick Aussie results, one that I actually really, really want to point out because I joke about Jess in the skiathlon, but in all seriousness, great result from Jess Yeaton in the skiathlon. She got 31st in that one, which is a record for Australia in that event. Our previous best was 39th. A great result there, narrowly missing out on the top 30. Fantastic to see Jess get there. The best Canadian, I will say, in that event was Sandrine Brown. She finished in 20th place there. And then we also had Katherine Stewart-Jones in 23rd for Canada. And Daria Beatty was in 28th. Well, she Beatty Yeaton, let's just say that. And I implore, obviously, we had great chat with Casey on before the show, before the Olympics, sorry, but follow the Cross Country Ski Team on social media. They are fucking hilarious. They are doing a great job at promoting themselves. And they have the third largest team of any Aussie team only behind freestyle skiing and snowboarding. So they're doing well out there to promote themselves. Jarrod, did you actually watch any of it? Because I'm glad that Seven showed a little bit of it before they cut away to the news. And then they showed the end of it. Because cross country and biathlon are like these sports that I feel never get much airtime unless it's just a late night, hey, this is who won a medal. But they are weirdly entertaining cross country and biathlon.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, it was great. I loved the skiathlon, I think. It would have been nice. I had like, I was eating dinner, the TV was on mute. It would be nice to have some commentary. I was like, didn't see kind of the switchover between the two styles. But it's just, they're just, it's such an impressive event. And the athletes are so impressive. And the Norwegian woman who won it, she's just miles ahead of everybody else. It was just great. And I felt like Jess did such a great job. I felt slightly sorry for her because her goal, she said coming in was top 30 to finish 31st. But I mean, what, one spot off your goal is a pretty good effort. And the fact that it's the best result by an Australian is something to be proud of.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, and I completely, completely agree with that. Just quickly, other results for Australia in the luge, Off The Podium's Alex Filazzo, 19th after the first round. So good for him to be there in the top 20. He'd be pretty, pretty chuffed with that. He's got another run to come this evening. Canada's Reid Watts in 14th there. Colin, you pumped for the luge, or are you waiting for the doubles luge, Colin, like we all are?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, the doubles luge, the missionary position luge, I mean, they're all going to be exciting.
BEN WATERWORTH: Did the luge athletes get, does Reid get talked up much at all, or is he just kind of one of those random ones we talked about the other day, who's like athlete number 172 on Team Canada?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I would say it's more like athlete number 172. And it's funny because we have so many athletes, as I mentioned in the preview episode, that have sponsored deals with Oreos and Cheetos and all that. I would love to know what it takes to actually get attention in this country. Maybe it is because it's the Winter Olympics and there's just so many athletes. But let's pick something for him to sponsor right now. Lululemon.
BEN WATERWORTH: God damn it. I'm sorry, those uniforms are just like fucking hell, they're boring.
COLIN HILDING: It's really bad. And you know, it's funny because I wondered what the opinions were because I saw a lot of athletes posting it. And of course you get like generic people replying saying, oh, they're so beautiful. Then I saw an article online last night that said something along the lines of everybody's hating on Canada's Lululemon wardrobes. But let's be honest, some of it's kind of cute.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's just boring. And this is the thing, I get it, Lululemon.
COLIN HILDING: I wouldn't say that. I think it's anything but boring. The problem is, is it's way too much.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I just, some of the ones you see, it's like for a designer brand that, like, I don't know, there's just something about it that just lacks it. Like, at least with Ralph Lauren with the US, like it looks stylish. It looks kind of like something you would wear. And like, where's that? Like, I don't know, maybe just me and Lululemon. I've never gotten the appeal of Lululemon and why it's so fucking expensive. Because to me, it doesn't look anything special. Like, Ralph Lauren, bit basic, but it looks special. The Australian Open, Jarrod. I don't know if you saw the stuff at the store at the Australian Open. Like, it was fucking expensive. I'm not paying $80 for a T-shirt. I wanted to because it looked nice. Whereas like in Lululemon, I've never gone into a Lululemon store and gone, I will pay $420 for a sock. Like, it just, it doesn't appeal to me. Why is it so expensive, Colin? What does it do with Canadians and design of activewear? It's bullshit.
COLIN HILDING: I don't know. Like, I think I told you, I walked into the store and I think the cheapest thing I saw was $48 for mitts or something like that, or it might have been $78. Yeah, exactly, per mitt. There's really nothing that you can buy. I mean, even with the Bay for the Summer Olympics, like, there was some expensive stuff, but I mean, you could get T-shirts for under $50. I'm going to hold out hope that maybe there's some, you know, last two days of the Olympics, bargain sale, 80% off, 90% off. I mean, even at 90% off, I'm probably paying triple digits for a T-shirt. Yeah, exactly. But it's also, there's nothing that really has caught my eye. And I'm like, oh, I really want to own that. Whereas the Summer Olympics stuff for Tokyo, I mean, I bought three of the T-shirts that they had, and I still wanted more.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we've officially lost our Lululemon sponsorship here on Off The Podium, by the way. But seriously, guys, like fucking, Jarrod, I feel like I've asked you this question before, but have you been, like, are you a Lululemon man? Am I offending you here with our Lululemon bang out session?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I'm not. I agree with both of the comments. It's this weird combination of the outfits themselves are really like minimalist in terms of styling and stuff. But then the combination of everything is just like, it's way too much. It was like the opening ceremony we talked about, like that random scarf thing that just looks so bulky and uncomfortable. So just all these layers on top of each other, but then the actual items themselves aren't anything special. It's just plain red. That's it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yep. I don't get it. The second final for the mobiles is about to start, so we might get a bit distracted going on there. Just with some of the other results, I wanted to quickly touch on some of our Off The Podium guests, particularly in the ski jumping. I was watching a little bit about this before, the female ski jumping. I will just mention quickly on the men's ski jumping, we had qualifying rounds in the normal hill. And good news for Casey Larson. He was 41st, and he has qualified through to the next round. So there's one Off The Podium guest through, so ticket off the list. Congratulations there, Casey, with that one. And when it comes to the women's one, I saw both Allie and Abby go through, and I know you're a bit of an Allie fan, Colin, we might mention that. But sadly for Allie, she's been disqualified. I don't know why. I saw hers, and her jump looked better than Abby's, yet at the end of the day, somehow she's been disqualified. So sadly she is eliminated, but-
COLIN HILDING: Was there too much in the crotch? Was that the problem?
BEN WATERWORTH: Maybe she just got too, you know, she was listening to too many Off The Podium episodes, and she just got tired, I don't know. But I mean, the good news for Abby is she's through. She was in 26, so she's in the top 30, so she will go through to the next round, which is all happening tonight. So yeah, I feel bad for Ally. Again, I watched her jump, and I don't know why she was disqualified, because she literally, she went further than Abby, so she would have been a lot higher than 26. And I know it's more about the technical side of things, not just the distance. But Jarrod, again, you and I got hooked on the ski jumping. I remember Pyeongchang. Did you catch any of it or not yet?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I haven't caught any of it yet. It's on my list, though.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, and again, Colin, are they getting any publicity at the moment in Canada? Have you heard much about our ski jumping girls?
COLIN HILDING: No, I mean, they quickly cut to it when, you know, coming back from commercial break-in, here's what's going on right now. But there's really been no attention on ski jumping at all. I just want to say both of the athletes you mentioned, Casey Larson and Allie Luteed, I mean, those are probably my two favourite interviews that you've done over the last couple of months. Like, they're both fantastic. But Allie, I mean, if you lose in this event, I mean, you're a Maple Leaf fan, you're a James Bond fan, you're, I believe, a Star Wars fan, right? She mentioned Alexander Bilodeau is the greatest Olympian of all time or something along those lines. I mean, you're officially my hero, so come back on the show anytime.
BEN WATERWORTH: Colin, you're married and she has a boyfriend. Calm down.
COLIN HILDING: Hey, you know what? I've got a five-year-old son that is 13 years. If she's into younger men, he's available.
BEN WATERWORTH: If she's into younger men? Like, hi, would you like to date my son who's like 16 years your junior, who's only a toddler at the moment? So, sure, I'll just put him on lay-by, basically. So, she does actually listen to the show, by the way, Colin. So, I hope, Ali, like, please message Colin. Colin Hilding is his name.
COLIN HILDING: Yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, Colin's getting excited. Yes, message me, message me, please. And I did mark down potentially Charles Hamlin for competing today, but no, he's not competing in the 1000, Colin. Is that not one of his events that he likes to do? Do you know much about that or?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I don't even know what events he's in. But yeah, 1000 is one of his distances. I know one of our other ones. Oh, he's not?
BEN WATERWORTH: No, he's not. It's today. They're on as we speak and he's not in them. So, yeah.
COLIN HILDING: Well, the curse strikes again.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, it's all our fault. You know, it carried the flag. Maybe he just, you know, was tired last night, decided to pull out. But no, he's not. But we do have technically a Canadian, Brendan Corey from Australia, who I'm seeing he has gone through. So just as we speak, literally the scores have come out at the time, has come up on my screen. He's gone through in second place in Heat 8. So there you go. On the 20th anniversary of Bradbury, I don't know how we would know that. But I was watching CBC. They were reminding us a lot. So I wouldn't watch any other channel. So yes, we'll keep an eye on that. But we're watching this. Are we distracted by these moguls now? Brody's gone down? What did you think of Brody's run? Colin, did you pay attention to it?
COLIN HILDING: I was obviously distracted at that point. I didn't realise he'd gone yet. I'm seeing Nick Page get ready to go.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm seeing Nick Page finish. So this is going to be great.
COLIN HILDING: I'm going to say good job, Nick Page, for making the top 12. I think this is one of his best results.
BEN WATERWORTH: Would you agree with that, Jarrod? Like you're on board with Colin's assessment of Nick Page?
JARROD LOOBEEK: 100%.
BEN WATERWORTH: He was great in Face Off. I'm so glad that he found a different career. I mean, his movie career was struggling.
COLIN HILDING: I'm Nick Page!
BEN WATERWORTH: Face! Ski!
COLIN HILDING: The B's! The B's!
BEN WATERWORTH: The knees! That's what he...
COLIN HILDING: Not the skis! Not the skis!
BEN WATERWORTH: Not the skis! Not the skis! Were you really doing this again, Colin? What's your favourite Nick Page movie? Jarrod, are you a con airman? A fear and low... Las Vegas man or whatever it is?
JARROD LOOBEEK: National Treasure, 100%.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've got the wrong movie, of course, for that one, but you know what I'm talking about. Yeah, National Treasure. I picked you to be a National Treasure man.
COLIN HILDING: I heard they're making a National Treasure TV series without Nick Page, which is really disappointing.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, that's bullshit. What's the point of that?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Too busy at Ariel's, you know?
BEN WATERWORTH: And then that other one that's coming out with Pedro Pascal. What is with the Kazakhstan's outfit here? They're a banana, basically. It's very distracting.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, they have the distinctive yellow colour.
BEN WATERWORTH: Like, why? Is it to stand out? Or, you know, just... Well, I guess. Why not light blue?
JARROD LOOBEEK: I'm switching things up.
COLIN HILDING: I've never been that distracted by the Kazakhstan yellow, but now looking at Dimitri, all I can think about is the man in the yellow hat from Curious George.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just appreciate that you're on first name basis with all these moguls. Well, Dimitri, I was having a chat with him before, and he said that absolutely I'm from Curious George. So...
COLIN HILDING: You know what's funny? One time I watched moguls with Jamie, and of course she's going to rank all the men. And despite the fact that Dimitri Reichard is like the oldest skier here, she's like, oh, he's the handsomest one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Who is the handsomest one, if you had to say? Is it Dimitri? Is there like a Swedish curler equivalent in the moguls?
COLIN HILDING: No, I don't know. I mean, as far as Jamie's concerned, you know, she thinks Mikel Kingsbury is all right. He's a good looking guy. You know what? You probably saw him already. Bradley Wilson, the American skier. He's out already. But yeah, there's a handsome dude.
BEN WATERWORTH: Personally, if you would ask me who the most attractive mogul skiers are, I would have said the DeFoele Pointe sisters. But hey, you went in the men's, so.
COLIN HILDING: I thought we were only talking about watching the men's right now. I'm actually going to say this though. We'll see her tomorrow. But Peryn Le Font, the French skier, when you see pictures of her, she's very attractive. When you see her on TV, she's very attractive. I've met her twice in person, and each time I walk away, I'm like, that's the single most attractive woman I've ever seen. And then I look at the picture that I take with her, I'm like, pictures don't do her justice. There's something about seeing her in person where it's like, oh my goodness, so much better than on TV.
BEN WATERWORTH: And just a special shout out to Colin's wife, Jamie, not the most attractive woman he has ever seen. Shit just got awkward. I hope she listens to this episode. Can I just say, speaking of just attractiveness, I feel like, look, I have to apologise. We've been very discriminatory on this podcast. We were degrading men yesterday by talking about their looks and how attractive they were. We're doing it right now. So look, in all fairness, can I just say, I'm a big fan of Russian ice dancers after today. Just could not remember a name for the life of me, but I will be watching ice dancing for the rest of these Olympics. And he was pretty attractive too. So balancing it out there. I should mention... Oh, Colin, are you okay?
COLIN HILDING: I think we just had our first partial white boat.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, okay. Now I'm seeing it now. Yep.
COLIN HILDING: Now you're behind me. Okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm seeing the slo-mo on my version. I'm actually trying to get the life scores up on the website, but it's not loading. So why has this guy got tape on his face?
COLIN HILDING: Is that rock tape on his cheeks?
JARROD LOOBEEK: That was the same in the skiathlon.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I thought the Norwegian one would have pink zinc on.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right. We should mention that Cooper Woods, why do we call him Cooper Woods when his name is Cooper Woods Topilovic? Why do we avoid the Topilovic part of his name? He is coming down the hill now, so I don't...
JARROD LOOBEEK: Are you anyway?
BEN WATERWORTH: For me. Sorry, privileges, working for Channel 7. I don't think Brody did too well, did he? So last chance here for Australia. I like the green...
COLIN HILDING: Again, I'm actually really surprised that both Brody and Cooper have made it this far.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't think anybody even knew who Cooper was going into this, although I think we have enjoyed his reactions.
COLIN HILDING: He's pumped. Well, we were talking about, I think before we did the Brit Cox interview, and we were talking about Australia's metal hooks, I believe I referred to Cooper as your other guy.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's the Michelle Yeoh of moguls. Can I just quickly ask, just get your opinions on the women's moguls ahead of tomorrow night. Colin, I mean, obviously Australia, Jakara are very happy you're happy that you got one half of the deferral point. I mean, you're going to have them both in there, obviously. But we're happy for Brit. Like as much as we want Jakara to win, of course we do. I think deep down we want, I'd rather Brit win. Don't tell Jakara I said that. Probably going to get on the show after the Olympics. But I think secretly, I think even secretly, deep down Jakara wants Brit to win too, right?
COLIN HILDING: Well, I mean, there's something, it's not just the fact that we've interviewed her twice. I think there's something about the fact that like she really, I'm not going to say should, I don't think it's fair to say should have won, but she really had the best shot at winning in Pyeongchang. I mean, her and Andy Naughty, I mean, I said it for a reason in Pyeongchang. Like it should have been a lock. It's either Andy or Britt, and those are your top two. And the fact that didn't happen for both of them, she's still here four years later, and it hasn't been the easiest last four years, but especially this season, she's finally starting to get back in the top 10 every once in a while. And I would love, I mean, really I would love to see her pull off some type of upset. I don't think it's going to happen, but I would love to see it happen. If I had to pull for one of the two, I would be pulling for Britt.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm just saying this right now, she's going to win the gold. It was based on Colin's predictions. Oh, she's a lock for the gold. She will win the gold. This is a guaranteed gold. Fifth, this time around, no, no, she's got no chance of winning the gold. Gold medallist tomorrow night, Britt Cogs. Our first Off The Podium curse broken tomorrow night. Thanks to Britt there. Cooper in first place after his run, so good for Cooper. Cooper Kronk.
COLIN HILDING: I want to see Benjamin Cavehu is going right now. They don't confirm it, but it's pretty clear. This man is dating Corinne Lafont. I'm saying it right now. So he's a lucky man, but he is not French. I mean, he's another one of these, you know, transplanted in because when the first time I went to go see the moguls live, I'm like, oh, it's Benjamin Cavehu. I'm going to go up and I asked to get his picture. And he's like, yeah, sure. Absolutely. I probably sound Australian there, but like he's very British and I took the picture. And I'm like, thank you for a second. I'm like, do I got the right guy here? This does not sound French at all. Distractingly tall in real life as well.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just want to point one thing. You want to talk about people not being from a place. I was doing some research on the men's hockey teams. Someone mentioned that Team China, I think has about only like seven players that were born in China. There's about five players on Team China who are not Chinese. They have no Chinese connections at all. And the rule is with the IHF, is to play for another country. You just have to live in that country and have played for their team for two years. So like a Canadian could come and like, you could have like Sydney Crosby and the gang could just be like, fuck it, let's just go win gold for Australia and come and move to Australia for two years, play for like the Melbourne Mustang, and then make Team Australia and make us really good. And they're going to be considered Australian. So Sydney, if you're listening, I know you're a big fan. Just come on in, come do it.
COLIN HILDING: You know, forget about, it's never going to happen with Sydney, but you know what's going to happen. I mean, NHL is going to be here in four years, but Eric Stahl is going to go and play in Australia for two years before that.
BEN WATERWORTH: But like, it doesn't sell itself like Sydney Crosby coming. He wouldn't play for Melbourne, he'd play for the Sydney Bears. Like, come on Sydney playing for Sydney. Like, I mean, doesn't make sense. Even Jarrod's not, and Jarrod's on board with that. I don't even know if Jarrod knows who Sydney Crosby is, but he doesn't. He's like, who the fuck's Sydney? He's the Roger Federer of Current's Day NHL players. I don't want to say of all time, but you know, he's the man, basically. I'm correct in still acknowledging that he's the man, or is Colin McDavid taking over, Colin?
COLIN HILDING: I mean, if you're looking at success over their career, you know, obviously it's going to be Crosby. If you're looking at current players and their contributions, it would probably be Colin McDavid, not Colin McGregor, McDavid.
JARROD LOOBEEK: That's a fair comparison to Federer then.
COLIN HILDING: Yes.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod's on board. So I think we might, if who have we got this guy? This is a Japanese guy. So if he doesn't beat Cooper, I think Cooper will be through to the final, but Brody looks like he's going to be out.
COLIN HILDING: Well, Akuma, who I just saw finish, he is like the best chance at anybody potentially beating Kingsbury. Am I still here?
BEN WATERWORTH: Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase, Hiroshima, is a great skier.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, now I get your joke, okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Landing well, landing Colin loves the Lion King jokes. Do you want me to go back to the Nick Page joke?
COLIN HILDING: Wait until I get to my commentary fails, there is a joke much worse than that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, you found that funny?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, I got it on the first try. And I mean, if a joke lands on the second try, it's still okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Come on, Colin.
COLIN HILDING: I was going to say, Hakuna, Hiroshima or Matata, however you want to say it. He would have been considered the best chance at beating Kingsbury. So it looks like he has a shot right now. I don't think he's going to beat Kingsbury, but you never know.
BEN WATERWORTH: Can I please commentate on him in the final?
COLIN HILDING: No, you've got it, you've got it, Kuma.
BEN WATERWORTH: Anyway, my next favourite, Wally Wahlberg is coming down the hill right now. Oh God, I should never be a commentator. There's a reason why I'm a researcher only. I should mention, I really should be doing this at the top of the episode, and I keep getting to the top of the episode. Our day of celebration today, day one of the Olympics is a big happy Colin Coates Day. Colin sort of gets a nod here. If people aren't aware who Colin Coates is, well, you should be. He's Australia's most significant Winter Olympian, six-time, six-time Winter Olympian between 1968 and 1988. And until our bronze medal in Lillehammer, he actually had the record for the highest ever finish at an Olympic Winter Games for Australia. He was sixth in the 10,000 metres back in 1976. And so good was he, or either so limited was our athletes going to the Winter Olympics. He carried the flag for Australia twice in the opening ceremony. So I think maybe we didn't have many athletes back in those days. So are you overly familiar with Colin Coates, Joe? Because I feel like it's one of those names that I think people have probably heard of, but they probably wouldn't be able to tell you. And if they said he's a Winter Olympian, I don't think many people would guess that we've had a six-time speeder. This is long track as well, of course.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I hadn't heard of him. And just imagine how many times he'd be carrying the flag now with dual flag bearers.
BEN WATERWORTH: Bloody oaf. He'd be having sore arms all the time. But it's fascinating to think we got sixth in speed skating, long track, when we just don't ever really have any long track speed skaters anymore. So happy Colin Coates Day to everybody there. Colin, I don't know if you did your homework and you've had COVID, you've been sick. Do you have any Canadians to celebrate or you just don't give a shit?
COLIN HILDING: I do. It's not one person though. Oh, well you do.
BEN WATERWORTH: Sorry, Colin, you prepared. How rude of me.
COLIN HILDING: Well, it is an entire team. Oh. You know, the first year that hockey was in competition, 1920, believe it or not, it was a team that was selected. The Winnipeg Falcons, who actually represented Canada, went on to win the gold. And we talked about the blowout that the women had. In the gold medal match against Sweden, they won 12 to one. And this was a team that was made up almost exclusively of Finnish immigrants who basically were discriminated against and not allowed to play anywhere else other than Winnipeg. And then the Winnipeg Falcons somehow go on to win the gold medal for hockey in the first ever hockey in the Olympics.
BEN WATERWORTH: Which, and fun fact of course, that was at the Summer Olympics too. That was four years prior to the first ever Winter Olympics. So I don't know if people are aware that the first ever ice hockey tournament was at the Summer Olympics. So that's a cool little fact though, Colin. I like that. Good job. Well done. Jarrod, who's Emu Plains, the athlete of the celebratory day? Who's Jarrod Lubey, tennis player from Brisbane?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Every day I go to Emu Plains.
BEN WATERWORTH: Every day in Emu Plains is Jarrod. I like that. That works. Yes, quick update here. Wally Wahlberg went to first. So, but Cooper has qualified. Actually, I was about to say he hasn't qualified, but he has qualified. So we've got one straight through.
COLIN HILDING: Wait, I just heard Ben say, so Cooper has qualified. No, wait, he hasn't qualified, but he has qualified.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, he has qualified. So, no, because I'm saying he has not.
COLIN HILDING: You keep me changing your opinion.
BEN WATERWORTH: It updated literally as I said he hasn't, but then I just got the scores for Daichi Hara, who is below Cooper. So therefore, there are two left, and that means that Cooper Woods in fourth is through to the super final. Brody has been eliminated. So yes, we officially know that we have one of them.
COLIN HILDING: Is this just me, or is this kind of like Tanya Roberts dying?
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, Colin, too soon, she's gonna wash up on a beach somewhere. Cooper Woods is through to the super final. Okay, the other man is a 50% chance of an Olympic medal. Brody's done.
COLIN HILDING: Brody will wash up on a beach somewhere.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, Brody's going home. All right, he's got his skis between his legs. He's gonna call Dale and he's gonna have a cry. All right, so that's a bit mean. Brody didn't do anything wrong, but he tried his best. He's an Olympic, you're not.
COLIN HILDING: And he's not even the other guy.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's the guy. Well, he's the second. He's a middle man. He's a guy on the Bob, so that people know he's there, but you don't really worry about.
COLIN HILDING: Not anymore. Now he's a man.
BEN WATERWORTH: He's the man. So, Kosuke Sugimoto. I'm just gonna call him, can you feel the love tonight? He has just finished on my screen at least. And given my knowledge of moguls is that looked fast. I don't know if he did any better than Wally Wahlberg. So, I'll wait to the screen updates in front. I need my expert commentator, Colin. Just we'll go over a couple of quick things here because this is gonna go into the super final very quickly and we'll commentate on it. What did we watch today? Gentlemen, Jarrod, I'll start with you.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Like we've mentioned, I watched the curling. I caught a bit of the slope style, the women's skiathlon, a bit of the louche. I think that was about it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Awesome, good to know. All right, Colin, you've just woken up. Did you watch anything?
COLIN HILDING: I wish I could have slept last night, but maybe it was just the excitement of the moguls that I didn't get to bed till one in the morning, and my alarm was set for 3.45. So I watched quite a bit. I watched slope style and hockey, curling, and then lots of moguls.
BEN WATERWORTH: Breaking news in the moguls. Mr. Can You Feel The Love Tonight is not going through to the super final. Nick Page is in, everyone! Get on board the Nick Page train! Not the skis, not the skis! So the goat's about to go down. So it looks as though, unless the goat fucks up, we're gonna have our six different nations represented in the super final. So I'm just gonna try and not be distracted by the goat here.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, try not to spoil it for me.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm not spoiling it. I mean, there goes his limb falling down the hill, but he didn't need that arm anyway. So that's fine. He just reminds me of Dale. I've just got Dale in the mind. It would be fitting for him to win the Daily Dale. No pressure on you there, Mikhail. I mean, he's not my nominee right now because he's still competing, but I'm scared if we don't put him up that Jarrod, you and I might be killed.
COLIN HILDING: Hey, you say that, but like I said it during Tokyo, I'm not for doing multiple multiples for the same nation and I'm almost a phrase to put up a Canadian this early.
BEN WATERWORTH: I will, I'm gonna spoil it now. My nominee actually is a Canadian today. So anyway, don't want to ruin that one apparently. I watched Curling, the opening ceremony replay because I was working. I didn't really have much of a choice.
COLIN HILDING: I did too. I'll just quickly say.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh yeah, give me your thoughts on the opening ceremony actually Colin.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, well, I mean, you stated most of my thoughts that I had messaged you before, but I will say watching the replay, I think it started a lot better than it finished. I think that opening segment with the light up grass blades or whatever it was supposed to be. I mean, Casper was loving that on the replay. I thought that looked great. And actually maybe the best moment, such a small thing was when you had the soldiers carrying the flag and just marching in unison. It looked so perfect and so precise. I love that part. But yeah, it definitely went downhill from there. But on a replay, I think it improved a little bit. I'll equate it to the rise of Skywalker. Once you go into it knowing you're gonna be disappointed, it's a little bit easier to take the disappointment.
BEN WATERWORTH: Just an update on the cauldron. Now the reason why it was so shit is that apparently this was China's message that we are sustainable now and we care about the environment. So we're gonna have the mini flame. Now I call bullshit. It's not a mini flame. You literally just have a holder for the torch. Jarrett, I don't know if you remember in Sydney, when at the end of every day, like if you went to a live site, they would light like a mini little cauldron and just put the torch next to it. Fucking Queen's Baton at the Gold Coast, they literally had a little placeholder for it. That's literally what they had. But this is an Olympic opening ceremony and they're gonna sit it in a fricking holder. Bullshit China. Like you spent too much money transforming the water cube into the ice cube. You went, fuck, we didn't build a cauldron. Yeah, we'll just do this.
COLIN HILDING: Does the outdoor one look any better? I haven't seen it yet.
BEN WATERWORTH: I haven't seen it either. I don't know, Jarrett, have you seen it? Crossing live to our correspondent in Beijing, Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase. How are you doing there with that one? This is the part where I hand over to Colin, first of all, for the commentary fails of the day. CBC commentary fails. You had some brilliant ones yesterday through the, that we read out on air. Do we have anything to top that? I feel like you do.
COLIN HILDING: I, well, it's not gonna top it. It's more embarrassing than anything else, but I just want to add to the one yesterday, the guy, I think it was Andrew Chang, who was talking about, my dad's from Trinidad and Trinidad, went on, almost died there. I actually missed it. Jamie, when we were watching the replay, Jamie caught it. But before he, after he says, yeah, I almost drowned. You hear some of the other commentators kind of start to giggle a little bit. And then it's actually one of the other commentators says, I feel like we should talk about this later. And then that's when he says, yeah, maybe that's the story for another time. Like, is this awkward moment? I'm like, yeah, maybe we shouldn't be bringing up death on the air here. But there were two, when I was watching the Slope Style, one I actually, I'm not gonna call this commentary fail. It's actually a commentary win, but it sounds like a fail. So I don't know who the commentator was, but Craig McMorris, obviously the expert was correcting him. All the terms in snowboarding is kind of silly, you know? And he pointed out, he's like, so many of the terms in snowboarding have to do with food. And he started listing some of them off. He's like, stale fish and pretzel. And I had heard those before. And he goes, and chicken salad. And I'm like, oh, that's a commentary fail. There's no way, like that's obviously a joke. But then I look it up and like, chicken salad is a real snowboarding term, which is the most ridiculous thing in the world to me. Just on the topic of snowboarding, this is not a fail in any way, but why are they allowed to call it the style goofy if you're riding with like the right foot first? Like it's basically regular and goofy. Would that be like saying, okay, are you right handed or goofy handed?
BEN WATERWORTH: This has been something that I know I've either watched something, it has been explained before. Maybe it's something I can quickly Google, but I know there is a reason why behind it. But do I know off the top of my head? No, they just, I mean, just like everyone, they love the goofy movie. Exactly, I'm goofy. Yeah. That's not goofy.
COLIN HILDING: The real, the real fail, which it's one of these things where somebody made an attempt at a joke, and I had to rewind, I'm like, I don't get why they're laughing. What is the point of this? They were commenting on Finland's uniforms, and like, it's such an unusual choice that orange jackets they have. And then the commentator goes, well, orange is the new Finland. And then he goes, I'm a big fan of the show. And I realised he's making a reference to orange is the new black. I'm like, that's not even a joke. Orange is the new Finland. Like that has to be the single worst joke I have ever heard told on air.
BEN WATERWORTH: And that's coming from someone on Off The Podium.
COLIN HILDING: Yes, and that's what I said. Ben's Hakuna Matata.
BEN WATERWORTH: That's a award-winning joke.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, like I'm just gonna, yellow is the new Kazakhstan. I mean, that's not a joke. It's just terrible.
BEN WATERWORTH: Orange is the New Finland is the title of Jarrod Lubick's new podcast coming summer 2023. How's it going, Jarrod? The plan, the plan working well?
JARROD LOOBEEK: The planning's going well.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think you gotta get nominated for an Australian podcast and probably win. So, I wonder what that's like. By the way, vote for us in the Sports Podcast Awards, everyone. sportspodcastawards.com. I'm seeing here, the goofy stance is one of the oldest terms, apparently from surfing jargon. It describes a right foot forward surfing stance was coined from a Walt Disney film in the 50s, in which Goofy surfed with his right foot forward. It is from Goofy. There you go.
COLIN HILDING: Literally, goofy reference.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm so glad that like, I don't know, Hitler didn't have a right foot stance or something like that. How about you, the regular or the Hitler?
COLIN HILDING: Before I let you guys take over the commentary girls, I just wanna mention this. CBC just cut to a 25% corner of the screen, showing you that the ski jumping is going on without actually showing any action and then cut to a recap of Canada versus Finland hockey.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I can give you some breaking news in two events featuring Canada. I'll get to the ski jumping in just a second. Breaking news in the first ever mixed team relay in the short track speed skating, Canada has just had their quarter final and they have finished second and they will go through to the semifinals. The Netherlands in that same quarter final has set an Olympic record, which funnily enough in a debut event is probably gonna fall a few times. So, so far through to the semis, we've got China and Italy from quarter final, Netherlands and China. And in a third one, I think Hungary are the favourites in this against ROC, Japan and USA. So Kazakhstan, France, Korea and Poland all eliminated. But Canada are through to the semifinals, Colin, congratulations. And the ski jumping has just finished. Abby has finished in 23rd, respectable for Abby there, not last, good for her. And very close to the top half, so well done for Abby there. Sure she'll be happy with that one there. But the gold, everyone was talking about Sarah Takanashi from Japan, who thinks won everything in ski jumping except for an Olympic medal, or at least a gold medal. She's not gonna win an Olympic medal this time. She's finished 4th. We've got gold to the great nation of Slovenia, everyone. Slovenia have got their first gold. Ursa Bogatu has taken the gold ahead of Germany's Katarina Altas and another medal for Slovenia, beating Canada, traditional rivals at the Winter Olympics, Slovenia and Canada, of course. Nika Kriznar has taken the bronze there. So that is in the women's ski jumping. But congratulations to Abby getting 23rd there. So doing well for Off The Podium right now. Our ski jumping girls are doing well. Scott obviously got the highest place for 12th, but Abby doing well there, doing better than Dean and Tali. Sorry, Dean. That's mean. That's uncalled for.
COLIN HILDING: They're never coming back on the show now.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, they will. I'm tight with his dad now. Me and Steve are mates. What are you talking about? We're going to get to the final in just a second. Jarrod, sorry. Commentary fails for you.
JARROD LOOBEEK: No real commentary fails. I think to me, it's just the endless repetition of these interviews with the athletes, which I'm already kind of getting sick of, as well as the replays when there's live sport on. But props to Channel 7 for their montage of athletes falling down to tumblewumbas, I get knocked down. It has been a real highlight of the Winner of the Mix so far.
BEN WATERWORTH: Almost as good as little kids falling over in the opening ceremony, right?
COLIN HILDING: Can you please send me a copy of that?
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, legally, I can't comment on that, Colin. Um, I just can't. And just on that, my opinion, I don't know what you're talking about, Jarrod. I think Channel 7's coverage has been absolutely flawless. There's been nothing wrong with it at all. It has been perfect. On point, clearly the best coverage I have ever seen on, not just the Olympics, but sport in general. Absolutely, like just give them the Oscar. I don't know if you can do that for TV, but they deserve it. We've got other things to go, but let's shut up because Nicholas Page is on top of the hill. Who wants to take Nick?
COLIN HILDING: Really?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, you two are obviously behind, so I feel like you two have got more time to prep if you want to wait for Nick.
COLIN HILDING: I was about to say a Toyota RAV is currently being advertised.
BEN WATERWORTH: Jarrod, I don't know if you're saying Mick Fanning right now.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Nick is finally on top of the hill.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, I'm saying Mick Fanning for some reason on my screen. I mean, I think they've got the wrong Olympics here. I mean, clearly, no, they've got the right, it's channel seven, it's perfect. Of course, nothing is going wrong here by getting Mick Fanning. Who wants to take Nick then? Because I believe we're going to have Nick, Cooper, Ben, Hakuna Matata, McHale and Walter. So I feel that Colin will want to do McHale. So you can have Benjamin and McHale, and I want to have Akuma. So I guess I'm going to do Nick then, but I'm going to be ahead of you guys. So does that make sense?
COLIN HILDING: I think you guys are really ahead of me because I'm watching a Sobeys commercial.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, you can commentate on that if you want. I mean, do you have any preferences, Jarrod, on who you call? Do you want to call Coop?
JARROD LOOBEEK: No, I couldn't care less.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right. You can do Coop, and you can do Walter. I'll take Nick and Akuma, and Colin, you can take Ben and McHale. How does that sound? All right, so I'm going to be ahead of you guys, because I'm going to spoil Nick for you.
COLIN HILDING: Or you can pause it and let us catch up.
BEN WATERWORTH: I can't pause it. It's live TV. Okay, Mr. Fancy.
JARROD LOOBEEK: You have those powers now?
BEN WATERWORTH: All right, okay.
COLIN HILDING: The only man watching on traditional television.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm not doing Nick, because Nick's already halfway down the fucking hill, so I'll miss the chance. I hope Nick's listening. This is going to be a happy, wide, tangy day for him if Jaren's doing Nick, so okay. Not only is Zoe going to be winning gold, he's going to get some action apparently. I really should have gone first, because this is going to work, because all of a sudden when it's my turn, I've gone down. Nick's finished by the way, so.
JARROD LOOBEEK: He jumps in the gloves, the goggles.
BEN WATERWORTH: That was in the score yet.
JARROD LOOBEEK: And he's off. Mogul, mogul, mogul. Into the first jump. Look at the angles and lines. You're welcome, Britt. Good jump.
COLIN HILDING: Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Mogul, mogul, mogul. Tight knees. Mogul, mogul, mogul. Knees together. Patches looking good. Looking good. Mogul, mogul, mogul. Keep going, Nick. Honestly, this middle section. Going slow.
COLIN HILDING: Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul.
JARROD LOOBEEK: And finally at the second jump, it is a black hawk down helicopter. And over the line. Good job. Not gonna get a medal. He's fallen over. The judges should take that into account, even though he was at the finish line. He's happy for himself.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right, I'll tell you what. I'm gonna do a coup.
COLIN HILDING: I'm pretty close.
BEN WATERWORTH: I haven't seen his scores coming up right now. So we'll jump ahead right now. The score, he's flipping his ski up and he's catching it. He's pumped. He's old Nicholas Page here. Woo! He's got a 78.90. That's interesting for old Nicholas Page. But at the top of the hill, staring down his chance at an Olympic medal, breathing in his best Dale Begg Smith. It is Australia's other skier. It is Cooper Woods. Top of it. Just the helmet, just the gloves, just the goggles. History awaits. He looks. He skis. Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. Oh, bit of a style mistake there. Flips over the top. That's the Dale Begg special. Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. There's his favourite mogul there. He's hit it perfectly. He's going into his favourite jump. He's looking a bit out of control here. I'm not sure about the style on this one, but he's going to go into the jump, gets the knees up. What's he going to do this one? Is he going to do the Black Hawk Down special? No, he does the Nicolas Cage special. Oh, he's doing a bit of a rival there. He crosses the line and he's pumped. Not quite as pumped as old Nicolas Page, but he looks, he looks okay. I don't know about that one. Got to say.
COLIN HILDING: I got to say, spoilers, Ben.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're welcome. I mean, I don't know how you expect me not to spoil it if I'm commentating it, but you do you, Colin Hilding. Now we need to get a 78.91 to move into the gold medal place, but I'm not sure I'm not feeling it. I don't think he's feeling it either, but I'm sure he'll be happy. The other skier would be happy with the top six finish here, and I think he's on for a top six finish. So we'll see if he can maintain that. Look at the flags on the knees there, the Southern Cross there. That's not Bogan. You can't say that's Bogan with the Southern Cross on there. Although I'm not sure about the fluoro green. Very iconic Australian colour there. Look at the beautiful style he does as he puts the ass over tit just over the head there. Crosses the skis across, classic X position. Cooper's favourite. And we just await the scores. Colin and Jarrod ready to get spoiled here. And he has scored a 78.88. Oh, he goes into second. So Cooper, happy with that. He hugs and waves. And his family sitting on the couch. Looked like they'd be rather watching Better Homes and Gardens. But what a great show that is. Better Homes and Gardens, Friday nights on Channel 7. Colin, over to you.
COLIN HILDING: Well, it'll be over to me in a few minutes when I get Cooper's scores.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I can help you out if you want. I mean, he's already down the hill again, but you know.
COLIN HILDING: All right, well, let's just stall for time here. So on the replay, Cooper, a 78.88 in second place, currently last, but also currently in silver. It's amazing how he can pull that off. And at the top of the hill, we have Benjamin Cabaye. There we go, finally. The most British Frenchman ever, the tallest Frenchman ever. And this guy's really checking all Ben's boxes. He's French, he's British. He's Dayton, Perrin LaFont, and he's off his first jump, and his knees are a little bit wobbly, but how could they not be when he got Perrin LaFont waiting for you at the bottom of the hill? And I believe there's a little bit of cocaine in one of those hills because he's picking up speed really quick. And second jump, he does the Saskatoon, Twisty Berry. And now he's at the bottom, and he's either really upset or really excited. I can't tell, but he's high-fiving. And there we go, we're waiting on scores now. I'm amazed that my voice has held up this long. And what a replay, look at that. Ben, you gotta tell me, I mean, British and French, you have an issue with him or are you a Ben Jung Cafe man? I mean, he's a beautiful man.
BEN WATERWORTH: I've not seen him without his goggles on, I couldn't tell you that. I mean, he doesn't have the chiselled jaw lines of a Swedish curler, but I'm sure, if he can land the, what's the face, then I'm sure he's probably a good guy. You know, but we'll remove the British from him and just keep the French. But I mean, I just want to say the weirdness of the fact that I've got the live timing in front of me, which puts the scores up before my TV screen and you guys are still watching fucking moguls from 2018. Yeah, this is interesting. I just want to point out I am wearing the Beijing gold here, ready to hand it over to Mikhail. So have you got the score yet, Colin?
COLIN HILDING: We got the score, 79.44. I have a good feeling he's going to be in the bronze position today.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I'm going to miss out on commentating my Hakuna Matata guy, because he's already halfway down the hill for me. So I think, Jarrod, this might be yours. I guess, Colin, you probably want to do Mikhail. So maybe I'll do my man, Wally. So might have to cut you off at some point. Oh, goodness me. That's, yep. I don't think Cooper's going to get a medal, but just saying.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh! You ready to start?
BEN WATERWORTH: But again, I don't know anything about moguls. That probably was a shit run. Oh, sorry.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. Into the first jump. Oh, bit of a stutter. Oh, fireworks. Firework jump there. Another stutter. Oh, this is terrible. If this guy's not last, there's no justice. Good moguling in this middle section, but top section ruined it completely. Mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. And oh, there's a shout out to the Flynn Flynn bid with that jump there. And over the line, 23.86 seconds. Usain Bolt would not be proud of that effort.
COLIN HILDING: This is kind of devastating for him. Like this is the guy who most frequently, probably the only guy who really ever beats Kingsbury. And yet two Olympics in a row, this has happened to him.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just love the fact that I already know the score.
COLIN HILDING: But he's so happy with, that's the thing. I got to say, I did meet him once and you kind of expect Japanese skiers or Japanese anybody to be very reserved. But I asked him, like, can I get a picture with you? And he's like, yeah, sure. And then I get my camera and I see him in the background. He's basically like, yeah. Yeah, like all excited.
BEN WATERWORTH: Great, great impersonation of.
COLIN HILDING: That's my, that's my Akuma Hiroshima impression. Yeah. Sounds like the beginning of a CSI episode.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, Jesus, David Caruso. Have you got the score yet? Jesus Christ. You guys are behind.
COLIN HILDING: 81-48?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, he's winning.
COLIN HILDING: What?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh no, these judges, they don't know what they're doing. What was that?
COLIN HILDING: Like, okay, 60% of the score. Oh man, no. All right, who's up? You are.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're doing Kingsbury. I mean, he's halfway down the hill.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, am I? All right, here we go. All right, the man of the hour, the man that COVID-positive people all across the country have united for. This is McHale Kingsbury, the Dale Bigg Smith of Canada, or the second Dale Bigg Smith of Canada. The McHale Kingsbury of Australia. Let's call him that. So he's getting ready to go. He's not listening to anything. He's listening to his keys. And mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul, mogul. And you better not screw this up. I'm not even going to try to be funny. This is what I got an hour and a half sleep for. You're doing beautiful, McHale. Come on, go, go, go. Look at this. Move it, move it. His knees are together. His knees are together. And he's got a second heel.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, we're gonna have a gold. Oh, it's a beautiful thing, oh.
COLIN HILDING: Jesus Christ.
BEN WATERWORTH: Colin needs a tissue.
COLIN HILDING: I have more places than one. That was incredible.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm gonna have to take over you very shortly because Wally's gonna be taken up in a minute.
COLIN HILDING: Oh, you go for it. You tell me the score. I wanna be the score here. He's number one.
BEN WATERWORTH: Kyle Kingsbury. I'm gonna wait till it's up on my screen because I know the score. I can see it in the live timing. Score's about to come up. Now, for Kyle, he looks, he hugs the skis, he strokes the skis. What can he do for Colin? Does he need to get Colin a box? It's 82.1, 82, the gold medal position! He's guaranteed at least a silver. Kyle Kingsbury. Is it gonna be his second gold or his second silver? What's he gonna get? Third silver, right? No, second silver.
COLIN HILDING: Second.
BEN WATERWORTH: Second. So we got, is he here? Two gold? This will be his second gold.
COLIN HILDING: It'll be his second gold.
BEN WATERWORTH: All right, okay, right, shut up. Wally's at the top hill now. Here's my man, Wally Wallberg of Sweden. Can he get Sweden on the board? I've had a bit of a drought these Olympics, Sweden yet to get a medal. He looks, he thinks, Abber in the mind. He thinks about Swedish curlers. He pumps himself up one more time. He gets his favourite box from Ikea. And he's off. Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally. Flips into the Mark Wallberg special. Lands it beautifully now. Now he's into the Wally bits. The Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally, Wally. Oh, he's got a bit of a stuff up there. The knee's bent. The knee's bent. Oh no, Stockholm's gonna go off here if he doesn't get the gold. He will be shot in the streets of Stockholm as he flips over into the Ikea meatball special. Oh, onto the knees there. He likes it. He crosses the line. Oh, he's pumped. He's pumped. I think he likes it. I don't know if I like it though. I don't know if it's Sweden's time to shine here. I think Canada might have the gold. The eyes are telling me that he even thinks it's not his. Colin, how do you feel about that run?
COLIN HILDING: The tone of your voice? I don't know. I just like the fact that I'm watching his run now, but I very much focused on you. I felt like this is the old days before television where you had to get your Olympic results by radio.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, I've seen the score online. I don't know if I want to tell you the score online or I'm going to wait to the reaction till I see it live. Or do you, I say, I'm going to shut up and let you two watch. Do you want to see it?
COLIN HILDING: Okay, fine, fine, fine. We're going to watch. We're going to watch.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm not saying a thing. I'm getting the live reaction here, people. I ain't saying it. I'm seeing his reaction now. And he's crying already. He hasn't even seen his score yet.
COLIN HILDING: He's crying. Ooh, spoiler. A man wins. Okay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yes, has he started on your screen yet?
COLIN HILDING: No, I'm still watching Walberg's replay here.
BEN WATERWORTH: In the Funky Bunch.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, he's got good vibrations, though.
BEN WATERWORTH: So you've seen the run and you've seen the replay or you haven't seen the score?
COLIN HILDING: It's still in the middle of the replay.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is it for you too, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Yeah, the score's about to come up.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, so you've seen the run.
COLIN HILDING: He's waiting, he's waiting.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm getting the reaction here.
COLIN HILDING: Okay, you're ready?
BEN WATERWORTH: That was very subdued, Colin. Well, no, no, no.
COLIN HILDING: I've said it to you a million times before. If my favourite gets beaten, I'm happy. You know, I'm happy for whoever could beat my favourite. Like, I would love for Kingsbury to have done this. He's still the first three time medallist ever, but like, wow, like Wahlberg, he sort of slowly crept up over the last year or two, but this is crazy for him. I'm saying right now-
BEN WATERWORTH: You should mention that he won, by the way, people. Wahlberg won.
COLIN HILDING: He got an A in 3.23. Oh, I mean, if my reaction didn't give that away, yes. Wahlberg wins. He's my Daily Dale.
BEN WATERWORTH: You've got it. You beat the GOAT. Geez, well, I mean, look, I mean, I was gonna put up your speed skater, but I don't know if I can even argue with that. I think that might be unanimous. That's a valid point. You beat the GOAT, you know.
COLIN HILDING: Now we've got two Swedens in a row. We're gonna have to take them off the board soon.
BEN WATERWORTH: Hey, good for, well, that's very true, actually. Hang on a minute. We're breaking our rule. Colin, no, this is not, you're always putting Swedish people up. No.
COLIN HILDING: If you remember back in Tokyo, I said, if we're going to award it to, I think if we're gonna reward it to a country a second time, it should be a unanimous opinion. So if this isn't decided yet, I'm saying my opinion is, we give it to Wahlberg, but we should still hear some opinions. We should have some honourable mentions anyways.
BEN WATERWORTH: I look, I agree. But my thing is, I don't know if you heard me say it yesterday on the show, is that I wouldn't mind trying to cover each of the sports because there's only 15 sports. So I feel we could actually do that. And the countries don't bother me as much as it does with some people, like for fuck's sake.
COLIN HILDING: Well, maybe when we get to 25% for one country, it'll start to bother you.
BEN WATERWORTH: I want to put up a Danish ice hockey player. We get in the great story of Denmark at these Olympics for the first time, they've qualified an ice hockey team and they did it in both the men and the women. So like, come on team Denmark in the men and women. I would just say I was going to, yeah, your speed skater who clearly I am so enamoured with because I remember her. Because, you know, Canada's first medal, I thought, you know, that's pretty good. And she loved life. So for her and the other potential that I had was in the cross-country skiing. The bronze medallist, Teresa Staedloper from Austria apparently was not even regarded as a chance of a medal. And she nearly got the silver. She narrowly got beaten by the rock contestant this week on The Price Is Right. But, and she was loving life. She was loving everything out there as well. So they were my potential nominees. I was thinking of putting Zoe up there, but I mean, come on, it's a day early. Don't want to jump the gun. So, but look, I'm happy to agree with Wally. I don't know what Jarrod's thoughts are.
JARROD LOOBEEK: See, I see your first place, Swede, and I raise you a last place, German. Oh, in Claudia Pechstein, her eighth Winter Olympics, 49 years old, just a cool 20 seconds behind the winner of the event in the women's 30,000 metres.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, no, I don't know.
COLIN HILDING: Can somebody tell me?
BEN WATERWORTH: She's an eight-time Olympian. She's won nine medals over her career. So she's, it's kind of like what's her name, the Kazakhstanian gymnast, who's like been to 87 different Olympics and is like 20,000 years old. But no, Claudia, she's a legend. And like, she's, you know, I know that, it's the name Oksana, isn't it, from the gymnastics. So she's won, I think, like a bronze and a silver. So she's won medals, but she's more of a journey woman. Claudia isn't, she's a goat. Like, she's one of the most decorated Winter Olympians of all time. But I didn't realise she was 20. Like, I saw half of her race, but oh, I'm swayed there because like- Yeah.
COLIN HILDING: I was gonna say, I was prepared to come into today and tomorrow and say, I want to remove myself from putting anybody up just because, well, remove myself from putting up any mogul skiers because it's obviously giving- It would be like, you know, if Formula One becomes an Olympic sport, well, Ben's gonna put up Formula One no matter what. But I actually really like Jarrod's choice. And I think that I like the Daily Dale or the Athlete of the Day, whatever, you know, being more than just the winners. But I mean, incredible for Wahlberg that he dethroned the goat. Over here, they're calling Kingsbury possibly the most accomplished Winter Olympian of all time. But really, I think the fact that just to be there for eight Olympics is incredible. And then you add to that, there's something about coming in last place that almost makes that a better story.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm so sorry, because it's like, can we just back up? So Canada is saying that a guy who's won three medals is the most accomplished Winter Olympian of all time. Sorry, Marit Björgen, 15-time Winter Olympian.
COLIN HILDING: I should have corrected myself, Winter athlete, because we're talking 101 World Cup podiums in 120. And I think the next closest is half of that.
BEN WATERWORTH: Okay, no, all right. I accept your correction. Apparently I wasn't going to anyway. I don't know. Yeah, like I like this Claudia one, because yeah, good. Well done, Claudia. That's, actually I'm legitimately sad that she was like 20 seconds off the pace. Like you don't want to see like a 40 year old be 20, because then you're like, oh, why is she at the Olympics? But yeah, well, good for her. I mean, in all fairness, I'm looking here. She was only four seconds off 19th. So I mean, come on Mia Kielberg of the USA. I mean, how old are you? You're only beating a 40 year old by four seconds. Pick your game up, love. Jesus Christ. Hello to Mia Kielberg. We'll probably get her on the show after these Olympics. So unanimous then for Claudia. All right.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Is she our first German? I believe she might be our first German. Yeah, cool. We'll go with yes.
COLIN HILDING: I mean, the first in these games at least.
BEN WATERWORTH: I don't do. Did we have a summer German? Jarrod, you're on top of this. You're our athlete of the day researcher.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I don't think so.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, well, sorry.
JARROD LOOBEEK: German's winning medals at the Summer Olympics. Does that happen?
BEN WATERWORTH: Wait, hang on. Didn't we have what's his face? Winner, who beat Nadal, not Nadal, Jock.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, it's Verov.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was Verov.
COLIN HILDING: I think his name was at least out there.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: He picked him.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm pretty sure. Anyway, right. Cool, great. Congratulations, Claudia Petschstein, the Daily. I mean, it would have been kind of poignant to give a mogul skier a Daily. Like, Jakara tomorrow, no, okay, no bugger. Britt tomorrow night. Oh, but she's Australian. We can't do it. We can't do it.
JARROD LOOBEEK: We haven't had an Australian yet.
BEN WATERWORTH: I, two days, wow, two days in a row, Jarrod. I don't want to blow my load. Like no, like, disrespected Jakara wins a goal because it's a bit of a drought breaker. But like at the same time, like if, you know, all of a sudden Bob Sled Brie gets it, like we can't not give it to Brie or like Laura, like, cause that's the Off The Podium curse as well. Like.
COLIN HILDING: And see that, that's the dilemma I was having with even Kingsbury, but, but I, I, I, I, I'm going to kind of preview tomorrow for a second here, just so we can get off of moguls here.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're getting off of moguls.
COLIN HILDING: Oh boy. Well, I ever, but I'm not expecting a goal from Jakara, although I think that she could pull off an upset. I think that Parin is easily the favourite. She is the female equivalent to Kingsbury over the last four years. I don't think that there's been a stretch of any female mogul skier being as dominant as she is. It's pretty rare she has lost. And I think she'll, no, I guarantee she'll become the first woman to ever win back to back golds in the sport. A woman, yeah. The other potentials, I mean, Jakara, I think is in there. And then the Japanese, teenage Japanese one, Anri Kawamura, if anybody has a shot at pulling off an upset, I think she could be our Wally Wahlberg. Like, it would be insane to have a 17-year-old win the gold medal. But if she's not winning gold this Olympics, she's winning gold in the next Olympics. But I think those are the three to watch for tomorrow. It'll be cool if one of the deferral points gets in there, or Britt, but I don't see that happening. I think it's those three are the three to watch.
BEN WATERWORTH: I just appreciate that we now have a new phrase. She could be the next Wally Wahlberg. Yes, 2026 in Milan, we will have the Daily Wally. Coming soon to Off The Podium. Just a few other updates quickly going through here. The semis, Star Hungry made it through, and I believe Rock made it through in the third quarter. The first semi-final is done in fourth place, the Netherlands through to final B, in third place Kazakhstan, the esteemed nation of speed skaters, through to qualifying final B in third place, in second, Italy through to the A final, and in first, Canada are through to the final. You have a 75% chance of another medal coming tonight, Colin.
COLIN HILDING: Tell me why I'm watching the fifth end of Canada-U.S. mixed doubles when I could be watching speed skating right now.
BEN WATERWORTH: CBC failed. Come on.
COLIN HILDING: I'm switching.
BEN WATERWORTH: Get on to Devon. Come on, Devon. What's going on, mate? Get some better researchers. Here on Channel 7, we're on point. We are on track, we are doing well. Basil's on TV now. Basil and Georgie, you know, look at this. It's a good night when Basil's on TV, right, Jarrod?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Absolutely.
BEN WATERWORTH: God, get on the... What a beautiful man Basil is, seriously. I'm sad he's not here in Melbourne with me at the moment. But all right, speaking of Channel 7, actually, one thing before we look ahead to tomorrow. Special little moment I want to go to here. I guess the privileges that I have of being here and working with Channel 7 is I get access to Channel 7 personalities. And I'm going to play a clip right now of a little chat I had today with best friend of Off The Podium, the one, the only Miss Joanna Greaves. Catch her tomorrow on Channel 7 from 10 a.m. I know what time I'm going into work tomorrow. So I recorded a little clip with Joanna Greaves today. And this is what Jo had to say.
BEN WATERWORTH: Very excited today to be able to welcome back a guest to the show who we're excited to be joining us a few times throughout the Olympics here on day one of the Beijing Olympics. She's hosting her eighth Olympics, eighth Olympics, her third winter, and of course set a record back 20 years ago in Salt Lake City as the first ever female to host an Olympics coverage in Australia. It's one of the only. Solo, solo. Jonah Griggs, Jonah, welcome back to Off The Podium.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Thanks, Ben. What a wonderful way to make me feel really old in a heartbeat.
BEN WATERWORTH: I wanted to do that straight away. I'm like 20 years ago, I actually was telling you.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Stabbed me in the heart.
BEN WATERWORTH: I was telling you recently that I was looking at some of that footage because when we had Apollo Ono on, I went back to watch the footage of the seven coverage and I saw some lovely shots of them. Just, I think you were in a river at one point or something like that. And just everywhere they seem to put you in salt lakes. Like, look where we are. We're in a river now all of a sudden.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: So the weird thing about that is they had a philosophy back then that it didn't actually matter that we were doing the Winter Olympics because at that stage we didn't have a huge amount of athletes that we were really gonna be able to bank the coverage on. So they were like, let's just go to a really beautiful location. So everyone else would be working like demons and working on all their stats. And we would just be trying to find extraordinary, beautiful backdrops in the hope that even if they didn't want to listen to me, they could just enjoy what was actually on the TV screens. And some of the places that we went to were amazing. I mean, we were off the sides of mountains. We were, that one that you're talking about, the river, we were literally in the middle of the river in the sense that there was like one rock that was standing out and they're like, could you actually get over there to that rock? And I'm like, would you reckon you wouldn't fall off that? I'm like, why? And they're like, cause it's just the perfect framing. So it was really fun, but it's pretty ludicrous. Some of the things that we actually did to get the shots.
BEN WATERWORTH: And now you get to stand in front of a megawall and walk along with it. I mean, are you excited to return to a Winter Olympics? Cause you haven't done one, I think, since Turin, have you not?
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Yeah, correct. I actually love the Winter Olympics, just because we're so familiar with so many of the summer athletes that, when you're prepping for them, it's still great fun. You still get to know all the athletes and get their profiles and information. But you do sometimes go, okay, here we go again. This is this person, very familiar. There's nothing, doesn't feel like it's new. Whereas you always feel like the winter athletes, there's just so many of them that the broader population hasn't actually heard about. And I think that's part of the magic of it. I mean, you add in the excitement and the thrill and the speed and the danger that most events actually have, then the new stories and dreams that they're chasing. And the fact that I think there's a bit of a conception that it's a rich person's Olympic game. It really isn't. And once you actually hear the athletes stories and realise half of them are working two and three jobs, and they have had this extra layer of COVID in the last couple of years, and what a slog it's been to actually make their dreams come true. It just becomes really engaging, interesting viewing.
BEN WATERWORTH: And obviously, speaking of engaging, interesting viewing, you, me, everyone in this country is hooked on curling right now. I mean, we're recording this. We've just sadly seen them kind of get spanked by Norway 10 to 4. But I'm calling it Italy. It's going to be the win. But I mean, are you... That's a big call. I've jinxed it. Well, people listening to this right now go, I'm banned. They lost 20-0. Like, what the hell are you talking about? But was this something that you expected to be so enthralling that not only yourself, but all of Australia would be getting behind curling all of a sudden?
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Well, do you know what? I've always actually enjoyed the curling at the Winter Olympics, but I think it goes to a different level when you have your own team to get pro-killed about. And I was actually talking to a lady on Instagram the other day, and she's Canadian, and she was saying she just lives for it, you know, and she cannot believe that this time around it's getting so much airtime because it's something that she's grown up with. We haven't grown up with curling. Like, it's been so wonderful to watch people embrace it. And, you know, everyone becomes an expert after five minutes. And, yeah, look at us.
BEN WATERWORTH: We all are. Every day, you know. Take that shot. Come on, that's easy.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Let's fess up. You and I are going to a Come and Try Me curling night. So, I mean, we are so convinced that it is so amazing to watch and we think we could possibly play it. I have a feeling, I mean, it's probably lucky that we are recording this now.
BEN WATERWORTH: I think we should do one before and after we do it on Monday night. So, we could be like, oh, look at us, we will be in, we will be in Milan. Oh, fuck that shit, like, no way.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: I will probably still be stuck, like, in a lunge position and unable to actually get up.
BEN WATERWORTH: I'm going to get you into trouble on Tuesday when you're air, when you're just like, I can't do the walk around the megawall, put the desk in. Ben made me do curling like, Ben, get out, you're fired.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: I actually was concerned with Josh Kaye, who is another amazing member of a research team that you know, who said that he tried it and he couldn't walk for three days. So I'm thinking like, the danger of me possibly falling, breaking a wrist, but then I think I might not actually be doing anything at any, you know, pace that's enough to actually damage myself. But we will find out.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, I nearly got hit by a car the other day.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: I'm feeling like there's a theme that's happening.
BEN WATERWORTH: It's a hidden agenda. It's all those years of me being negative against Channel 7 secretly, so I can infiltrate and then just get the host and talent killed off.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Make a change from within.
BEN WATERWORTH: Exactly. View the change. Thanks Channel 9 for paying me all that money, by the way. You mentioned, what we talked about, you haven't been doing a winter game since Turin.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Yeah.
BEN WATERWORTH: Last time that was, of course, when a certain Dale Weggsmith won a gold in the moguls. I had to bring it up. We're obviously looking good in the women's moguls with J'Kara. Are you a good omen, Joe? Is this you? Oh, you think I'm the good luck charm? You're the one who gets us gold in the moguls. Again, you're hosting the coverage back in Turin, gold in the moguls. Now you're back to hosting. If J'Kara wins, it's you. You're the good luck charm.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Look, I'm happy to claim that. I don't really think if there are people that want to put some finances into some kind of research to actually quantify that, that we'd go that far with it. But I'm happy to claim it. And I'm almost certain that I could beat your house on it, that if J'Kara does win, there's probably going to be an interview that has more words said than the one that I did back in Turin.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, maybe she just idolises Dale so much that it's just an Aussie gold thing. Just like, yes, thank you. Yes, and we still don't know where Dale is. We still haven't found him. I don't think we've found where he's at.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: No, but I do like your homage to him.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah, Daily Dale.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Daily Dale.
BEN WATERWORTH: Who's your, I mean, look, again, recording this, we've just watched him curling in a bit of slope style. We don't really have a Daily Dale right now. But what was your thoughts on day zero Daily Dale? Mr. Eriksson, the very attractive Swedish curler, who just...
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Yeah, he was actually pretty amazing. He was, even I had friends who have never watched the game of curling in their life, said to me things like, he's the boss, he's the king, he's the man. So yeah, I think he definitely, he deserves it for day zero. Day one, it might be a bit early. There's quite a few sports starting a bit later today. When we're chatting, you know, in the middle of the day, or middle of the afternoon, I should say. And as we know, like, you know, the first medal events will be happening this evening. So I think we could see something spectacular.
BEN WATERWORTH: Someone in Cross Country were wanting to see jumping girls tonight, or something like that.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: I reckon ski jumping girls, because also they've only really got that one event, and then it becomes all about the men. So, you know, you could have Sarah Takanashi from Japan, who's won, you know, pretty much everything. She's had 61 World Cup podiums, and she's more than any other man or woman. And I think she might actually be able to do the one thing that Japanese jumping in the women's is missing.
BEN WATERWORTH: The gold medal, and of course, keeping out for our former guests on the show, Ali Ludit and Abbie Straight from Canada. Just for you to know.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: People just love that, that half of the people that you've spoken to over the last few years are all feature.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, it's actually, the interesting thing is, is that we literally have guests on every single day competing. Whereas in Tokyo, we had some blank days, but yeah, we've got 25 people, 24 Olympians, one Paralympian. And we're trying to break the curse. We've never had a gold medallist. We've had silver and bronzes, and generally Colin is the one who's interviewed them.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: Sorry, I'm distracted. This is your transport that's arrived.
BEN WATERWORTH: No, it's a paparazzi. They never leave you alone here. Snip, snap, you know. I remember what you said on air this morning. That's news.com. Are you trying to hunt that down? It's so exciting to be able to be here, to be able to see all this in person and kind of watch it and everything.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: What a little revelation you've been, though, for us. I mean, I love working with you, but I also...
BEN WATERWORTH: It's day one.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: It's day one, for us, it's like day eight. I'm glad that it still feels like day one for you. But I mean, how fantastic is that? Be a guest on your podcast and realise that I would love to be able to remember what you've forgotten in terms of winter Olympic history, in terms of Olympic history, and now here you are working, and I'm sure that you will be at Channel 7 long after I move on.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, again, it's all hidden agendas, basically. It's A, to infiltrate, and B, meet Bruce. So, you know, that's all I'm doing. Joe, I'm sure we'll talk to you at some point throughout the games, be it at the curling or elsewhere.
JOHANNA GRIGGS: What do you mean in your official capacity? Because we're probably going to talk to each other as we walk back to our own.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, I thought we were just going to go back to pretending to hate each other. Joh, thank you, and bring on the rest of the Olympics. Ha ha ha ha. Everyone laugh. Come on. Ha ha ha.
COLIN HILDING: I just want to... We're not being rude. We literally have not heard this clip yet, but...
BEN WATERWORTH: Do you actually like... This is clearly an on air meeting right now. Do you want me to send you the clip each day so you know what she says? Sure.
COLIN HILDING: Because honestly, I thought about this as soon as you did the ha ha ha. I'm like, she probably said something really funny. She thinks me and Jarrod are huge dicks right now.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Oh, Joh, you're such a scream.
BEN WATERWORTH: I will clarify, we did talk on the way back to the hotel, by the way. We didn't just snob each other. So the snob, that was snob.
COLIN HILDING: You wet each other?
BEN WATERWORTH: Not snog, snob.
COLIN HILDING: How did you get this job, Ben?
BEN WATERWORTH: news.com.au, stop listening. Don't make that your headline tomorrow. You're supposed to save that for Bradbury.
COLIN HILDING: Come on.
BEN WATERWORTH: Oh, I haven't met him yet. I haven't seen him yet. I've met a few of our other winter. You know, I just say that also the great thing is, is that we're going to have some good guests on after this, because we're getting pretty much all of our expert commentary team coming in off the podium. So if you're listening to The Alpine Skiing tomorrow and you're in John O'Brower, well, look forward to his interview coming soon on Off The Podium. He's a great guy, and I'm looking forward to bringing him on the show. But seriously, there's a lot of fun with Joe, and we'll get Joe on again during the Olympics, but also we'll get some other people on as well. Some of the research team are fun to chat with, so we'll get some of them on the show, and just clearly, just me doing all the legwork. You two just sit back, just have COVID, Colin. It's fine, Jarrod, you know, watch your tennis. It's all good. I'll do all the work. Tomorrow, we have seven medals being decided, which of course is exciting. The medals being decided tomorrow, first Alpine skiing on tomorrow, we've got the men's downhill, which now is just a one run thing. There's no two runs, there's no qualifying into a final, and I think it's just boom, final, you're into it, you're done. The men's skiathlon is tomorrow, the women's moguls is on tomorrow, of course, as we've mentioned, the finals of the men's singles in the luge, of the men's singles in the tennis, it's on tomorrow, Jarrod, you're excited. Come on, Rafa, for number 22, the men's normal hill individual in the ski jumping, we've got the women's slope style, of course, and the snowboarding, and the men's 5,000 metres in the speed skating. Look, there's no, again, it's Winter Olympics, there's no dirt events, all great ones. Obviously, the downhill, the blue ribbon event of the Olympics, which is always fun to watch. No Aussies in that one. I know there's a few Canadians in that one, Colin. Skiathlon, we love the cross country, of course. Got a couple of Aussies in that one. The moguls is obviously what we're all gonna be focusing on from our perspective. Luge, ski, I mean, nothing bad. Potentially two medals tomorrow, Jarrod, for Australia. We've never won two medals in a day at a Winter Olympics before. So, could be the first. And there's another day during these Olympics. We've got the monobob and the aerials are on the same day as well. So, Jarrod, what do you, I mean, it's probably an obvious question really when you talk about two potential medals for Australia tomorrow, but is that simple? The slope style and the moguls for your perspective?
JARROD LOOBEEK: You're counting out a medal in the Luge?
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah.
JARROD LOOBEEK: I thought that would have been a lock.
BEN WATERWORTH: Well, I mean, again, if it wasn't Off The Podium, absolutely. But I mean, 19th bit of work to do there from Alex. Pick your game up. Eat your weak bits tonight. He might be in with a shot. I don't know.
JARROD LOOBEEK: Nah, yeah. Looking forward to the snowboard slope style and obviously the moguls. I feel like, oh, there's gonna be so much hype. The moguls is gonna be tough to watch, but I reckon we can pull it off.
BEN WATERWORTH: Yeah. This isn't me taking shots at any broadcasters. I think it's just Australia in general. And I've always said I feel the Winter Olympics maybe get a bit more pressure on them because there's less of them. So I feel, hang more hopes on them. So but I think both Tess and Jekara have been so chilled. Like it's just, you can't tell a damn thing if it's getting to them at all. But yeah, look, and this is the beauty of the Winter Olympics as we know. Gold would be nice, but I think as Australians, we'll be satisfied with any colour of a medal. So we'll see how that goes. Colin, for you is it again, Moguls? Your last day of Moguls, Colin, are you feeling sad?
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, I mean, I'm going to go back and start rewatching stuff from Pyeongchang when it's over. So I'm sure I'll be able to tide myself over. I mean, I can't believe I'm spending my only weekend off with COVID waking up at four in the morning, but I'm happy to do it.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good, good for you. And yeah, we get it, Colin, you got COVID, get over it, mate, like seriously, like come on. Everyone's got COVID. I think Jarrod and I have caught COVID by now when it comes to that. Just quickly before I give my opinion, because people care, Hungary and the USA are through to the final of the mixed relay. So the final will be between Canada, Italy, Hungary and the USA. I've got to say, Hungary, stop getting greedy in the short track. Like seriously, you did it four years ago. One gold's enough, okay? Like just calm your farm, okay? I am going to call it gold for Canada. You're gonna get a gold, silver and a bronze today, I think, Colin, but I think we're just gonna end this in just a moment, forget it. One, I'm excited for all of them tomorrow. I love all of the events that are happening, but one to keep an eye on in the 5,000 metres in the speed skating. If you remember our interview we had with Chad Hedrick, we talked about a certain Dutch skater by the name of Sven Kremer, one of the greats. The last time he got beaten in the 5,000 metres was in Turin by Mr. Chad Hedrick. And if he wins tomorrow, Sven, Sven, what a name. That's his real name, people. I'm not just being racist here. Apparently Sven is a racist. I don't know what I'm talking about. It's after midnight, people. I've had a long day. If he wins that event, he will be the first Winter Olympian to ever win the same event for consecutive Olympics. And if he medals, he will be only the third Winter Olympian to win a medal in the same event in five consecutive Olympics. So are we all on team Sven tomorrow? I'm on team Sven. The guy is awesome. What a man. Yes, we're all pumped. We're all pumped for Sven. We're all pumped for Sven.
COLIN HILDING: And Jarrod's nodding.
BEN WATERWORTH: We're all pumped for Sven. Colin Hilding's new podcast coming in 2025. Joining Orange is a New Finland on the Oz Network. Medal tally update, because I didn't give one of these before, with one event to go, two events to go, one event to go. I know how things are happening right now. Norway are winning. What was our prediction? 80 gold, I think. So, slow start for Norway. Two gold, zero silver, zero bronze. Jeez, they're disappointing in the silver count. Norway, these Olympics, pick your game up. Two medals. The great winter nation of Slovenia, ladies and gentlemen, are in second. Call the Olympics off right now. Slovenia are happy. A gold and a bronze. The Netherlands, a gold. Sweden, a gold. Canada, you're doing all right. Silver and a bronze. Satisfying day for Canada. ROK on debut, doing great, silver and bronze. See, I can go through them individually because there's not many in the winters. France are silver, Germany are silver, Italy are silver, Japan are bronze, and Austria are bronze. Australia sitting pretty right now and equal 12th with zero gold, zero silver, zero bronze. And just an update on Saudi Arabia. They're also in 12th, zero gold, zero silver, zero bronze. That would be disappointed with that. They're expecting a little bit more in their debut Olympics, just like rock, you know? So yeah, pick your game up, Saudi Arabia. Jarrod, thank you for joining us. Not quite a 3 a.m. finish today, only a 12 a.m. finish for us. So I didn't think we'd even started this time last night. So that's a win, I think, for us. So thank you very much, Jarrod. And great, can I say, clap, you won the moguls commentary tonight. So good job, well done.
JARROD LOOBEEK: You know, it's my speciality, so I'll take it.
BEN WATERWORTH: You've got 24 hours to get even better for your last time before another four years away. And Colin, the only person I've ever spoken to with COVID, and you came on here and you talked, and you survived, I think. I don't know, are you dead? I just like Jamaican Bob said, Eh, Sanka, you're dead? Like, no, man, I gotta finish the race.
COLIN HILDING: Yeah, and send me your new address so I could send the winter care package, the clinics and all watermelons.
BEN WATERWORTH: You're nudes, you're like, send me.
COLIN HILDING: If you wish, but.
BEN WATERWORTH: I mean, look, hey, I mean, I'm no Swedish curler. But just saying with that one. Just quickly as well, before I go, Alex Falasso has had his second run, currently sitting in 12th place, but there've only been 14 losers going down so well. Doing well, come on, Alex. So the Off The Podium curse. Vote for us in the Sports Podcast Awards, sportpodcastawards.com. We're up for one. Jarrod, again, daily checking with you, Jarrod. How many did you put in today?
JARROD LOOBEEK: Four times at least.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good. Colin, you've been voting pretty crazy?
COLIN HILDING: No, but I will now that you reminded me.
BEN WATERWORTH: Good, I look forward to it. Social media, search Off The Podium. If you're wondering why we're a little bit slow on posting Canadian medals and other things like that, well, the person who postings on social media has a job now, so. It might be a little bit delayed, but they will be put up there as well. So yes, Off The Podium on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe on all the good podcast channels and the bad ones as well, except for Off The Podium. Leave some feedback. We'd love to hear what you think and we appreciate your support. Thank you for tuning in. We'll be back for day two tomorrow. Special shout out to Jason Momoa, Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful phrase. And go left.
Comments